Releases in some markets, like in North America, used different cover art from those in Europe. Rather than the simple white-on-black text of the European releases, the North American releases depicted an image of a distant train moving along under an evening sky.
Ban in South Africa
The title track is a story about a train carrying the souls of the dead to the Underworld. God and Lucifer are playing Poker – gambling with the souls. Lucifer cheats and wins the game. The song finishes with the stanza:
And far away in some recess
The Lord and the Devil are now playing chess,
The Devil still cheats and wins more souls,
And as for the Lord, well, he's just doing his best...
— "Spanish Train"
The song was deemed blasphemous in South Africa, and a ban was ordered. A&M records sued to get the ban overturned – the suit was eventually successful. However, while the suit was in progress, A&M released the album under the title Lonely Sky and Other Stories (without "Spanish Train"). This album is considered[according to whom?] a collector's item today[when?] – copies are extremely rare. Perversely, the ban only applied to the LP record, so the cassette issue of "Spanish Train" was always freely available.
The Strings, Choir, Recorders and Ocarinas on "The Tower" and "Lonely Sky" were arranged by Robert Kirby who also arranged the brass for "Old Friend" and "This Song For You".
Richard Hewson arranged the strings and brass for "Just Another Poor Boy" and "Spanish Train".
Production
Producer and Engineer – Robin Geoffrey Cable
Assistant Engineers – Mark Dobson, Ian Major and John Kelly.
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